


CinderCat

by clarityhiding



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Cinderella Fusion, Alternate Universe - Cobbler, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cinderella Elements, Identity Porn, Jason Todd is Catlad | Stray, JayTim Week 2020, M/M, Notfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:41:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24502528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarityhiding/pseuds/clarityhiding
Summary: What's a cobbler by day, cat burglar by night to do when a handsome palace guard shows up with a plaster cast of their boot and an accusation on their lips? Why, date them of course.A Cinderella-Stray not!fic.
Relationships: Tim Drake/Jason Todd
Comments: 25
Kudos: 135
Collections: JayTimWeek





	CinderCat

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 2 of JayTim Week, it's a fairy tale/book-inspired not!fic! (It's totally book-inspired as this whole thing was built off of the Alexandre Dumas chapter title "In which it is demonstrated that, although Long Legs may be somewhat ungraceful in Dancing, they are very useful in Running.")

Jason is a thief planning to burgle the castle the night of the ball. Before he can try to take anything, the middle prince mistakes him for a guest and he's roped into dancing/a conversation.

This being a masquerade ball, Jason is wearing tight leather pants, a floofy pirate shirt with billowing sleeves, and a mask—of _course_ Tim mistook him for a guest. (Dick popularized the look among the upperclass a few years back. Tim never needed to see that much of his brother's chest hair 😬). Plus a Man In Black cowl-mask, very plain.

Meanwhile, this is Jason's first encounter with nobility off the street. He was completely unaware of the trend.

Tim wears a feathered half-cape (he wanted it longer but the royal seamstress "forgot" in order to better show off his assets) over his shirt, vest, and pants. Plus knee-high boots that do wonderful things for his legs.

Tim wasn't even on the lookout for someone at this ball! It was just in celebration of the crown prince finally getting engaged. If he'd known all the eligible nobility would immediately turn and set their sights on him once Dick was off the table, he would have come down with a horrible cold and skipped attending all together!

That's why he was ~~hiding~~ appreciating the artwork in one of the smaller galleries when in came this Mysterious Stranger and swept him off his feet!

(Jason remembers it going slightly differently, but he will cop to being the one to first ask the unexpected ~~ly attractive~~ person for a dance in order to cover his true reason for being there. A ball is just a big dance, right? So if he's dancing he must belong???)

His logic is sound. Right up until he remembers he has no idea how rich-people dancing works.

Jason didn't even realize he was supposed to be leading—he was trying to follow this dude's feet without being obvious about it.

(If the conversation weren't so good, Tim would have stopped dancing ages ago, but he wants an excuse to extend this encounter. Luckily, he's wearing steel-toed boots. This isn't his first ~~rodeo~~ fancy party.)

Jason makes a break for it when a couple of the royal guard burst into the room, looking for ~~a place to neck~~ the middle prince who has disappeared from the festivities. He goes out the balcony doors and leaps off the balcony in an amazing show of agility that wasn't present when he danced.

Tim chases after him and actually does a pretty good job keeping pace right up until the fireworks start and his way is blocked by people panicking. Now, these were waiting to be set off, but that was later and only a few at a time.

Jason tossed a burning torch into the crate and set the whole lot off all at once.

The next day, Tim starts going around the capital with a plaster cast of the boot print made when the Mysterious Stranger leapt from the balcony into some soft and impressionable ground.

(Jason made off with a number of small but expensive items before running into Tim on his way out of the palace, by the way. Even if he steal anything directly from Tim, he still didn't come away from the palace empty-handed.)

This is fantasy period specific and it's pre-mass production. That means custom-made boots (only with treads because that's convenient) and custom treads. Each cobbler has their own unique tread pattern, so it's a matter of tracking down the right cobbler, then getting a list of clients with that approximate boot size, then going through those.

In the back room, the cobbler's apprentice is sweating up a storm.

Apparently he was wrong in thinking the thefts went unnoticed? Oh shit, he should have moved the goods while he still had a chance! Now the royal guard is after him! (Does Tim go around the city dressed like a guard? Yes, yes he does. No one talks to you if you're a prince, they're too busy bowing and scraping.)

Jason, of course, both doesn't realize he was charming a prince with his mediocre dancing nor that the "guard" inquiring after boot treads was his dance partner (they both wore masks!).

Tim goes through the entire list and comes up empty! All he can think is the Mysterious Stranger must have bought his boots secondhand, in which case he has absolutely nothing to go on! Dejected, he stops by the cobbler one last time.

This time, the cobbler isn't in. Instead, her apprentice is manning the counter. Her very tall and attractive apprentice. 👀

Tim recognizes Jason's boots by sight since he only has just the one pair. Jason's all, "Oh no, he's going to take me in for all that stuff I nicked!" Instead, Tim leans in, blushing furiously, and says, "We never got to finish our dance and I was hoping you'd be willing to pick up where we left off?"

Jason's pretty confused (he didn't think guards got to dress up and go to balls?), but he's game. Then they have a lovely courtship wherein Tim is constantly dodging his guards and family while at the same time keeping the cute cobbler he's dating from finding out he's a prince. (It doesn't really occur to him until a long time later that there's no reason a cobbler's apprentice would get an invitation to a royal ball. When it does, he brushes it off as gatecrashing.)

Clearly Jason can't continue his shady side business of burglary if he's dating a royal guard, so he gives that up (though not before fencing the stuff he stole from the palace since it's clear no one even realizes it's missing).

Heck, everything is going great for them… until one day Tim gets kidnapped?! Jason must plunge back into the shady underworld he escaped in order to rescue him! Really weird that anyone would go through all this trouble to kidnap a guard, though.

The actual royal guard are also on the job, totally freaking out and trying to find Tim and oooh nooo they're going to be in so much trouble if the king finds out Prince Tim has been giving them the slip for ages!! 

They are not doing nearly so well as Jason with tracking down the kidnappers, but they do get there just in time to provide reinforcements when Jason learns he's brought a dagger to a sword fight and some crazy guy is demanding Jason duel for Tim. Which is honestly pretty insulting to Tim? Jason is offended on his behalf.

Jason wins the duel (by using dirty tricks because no one said he couldn't), releases Tim from his bindings, sweeps him up in in a big ol' thank-god-we're-alive kiss… only to be interrupted several minutes in by someone clearing their throat.

Now, Jason may not know what most of the royal family looks like, but he does know the face of at least one member as it's stamped on all the coins in the kingdom. So he's understandably a bit shaken when he glances up and King Bruce is there in full battle armor, tapping his foot impatiently.

Tim tugs Jason closer and whispers, "Just ignore him. He usually goes away if you fail to make eye contact for long enough."

Too bad for him, Jason is already freaking out. "But that's your boss? And _the literal king?_ "

Meanwhile, all the royal guards are trying to sneak away before the king turns and takes it out on them that he's only just now learning about his son's latest squeeze.

Bruce probably recognizes Jason as a notorious cat burglar (he makes a habit of trying to study as many of the city guard's reports as he can) and has the royal guard arrest him because dadding is hard and kinging is much easier.

Tim tries to stop this! But the guards are ordered to hold him back, separating them as Jason is bound and led away. Jason who is still confused about why the _king_ is here, but resigned to the fact that he and Tim are through. He always knew a romance between a thief and a guard could never work out.

So Jason goes to the dungeon (the dungeon, not the gaol, because the king suspects this burglar may be moving on to more dangerous crimes like kidnapping of princes) and Tim is forced to go back to the palace where he's not allowed to go anywhere without a guard accompanying him.

Obviously, Tim must give his guard the slip and sneak down to the dungeon to talk to Jason.

 _Clearly_ Jason wasn't in on the kidnapping attempt—he rescued Tim! And he isn't trying to pull some con because Tim sought _him_ out after the ball instead of the other way around. "So I'm really hoping you're in this because you like me and not because you're hoping to get something from me. I mean, besides love and affection and enjoyable company."

Jason is just staring at him. "So… I'm starting to get the impression that you're maybe not the typical royal guard?"

The guard who's supposed to be guarding Jason and is very pointedly not listening to this conversation or noticing the prince right there (because he knows better than piss powerful people off and the king is scary but Prince Tim is here now) has to fight down the laugh that threatens to escape. He's not completely successful.

"Jason. You're an intelligent man. _Please_ tell me you're not this stupid."

"Tim. You're an intelligent man. Surely you've done the research by now to know that this is where I belong and you're better off just forgetting about me." Jason is taking in the very nice clothes Tim has on, the way the guard deferred to him, the protective manner of the king when he had Jason arrested… He's slow sometimes, but Tim is right and he's not _that_ slow.

Heck, thinking back now, he remembers that Tim was wearing a very nice costume on the night they met. The feather cape alone was way out of the price range for the average guard, royal or not. But he's also been very willing to overlook that and other small inconsistencies in order to spend more time with him.

Tim looks at Jason long and hard, his face not giving any hint as to whether he has indeed investigated the Cat's long history of burglary. Finally, he smiles. "You're completely right, of course. I'm no royal guard, and it was completely unconscionable for me to mislead you like that. Guard!"

The nearby guard startles to attention and tries very hard to look like he hasn't been listening in the whole time; this stuff is better than the dirty comedies players sometimes perform in the market square! "Highness?"

(Cue Jason looking even more panicked—he'd guessed that Tim was one of the nobility, but ooooh shit, a prince?! He's _so_ screwed.)

"It has been brought to my attention that in impersonating a royal guard, I have become just as much a criminal as Mr. Todd here. You must arrest me."

"Highness, I really don't think—"

"Tim, what are you—"

The glare Tim shoots them is so scathing it shocks them both into silence. "If those who lead do not follow the law of the land, what kind of example does it set for those they are tasked with ruling? No, my father is completely correct and no exceptions should be made, no matter how small the crime or who committed it. It is crucial that you lock me up immediately."

The poor guard fumbles with his ring of keys until he drops it in his nervousness. Making a frustrated noise, Tim picks up the ring, unlocks the nearest cell door, steps inside, locks the door, and passes the keys back to the guard through the bars.

"There. Now run along and inform your captain there's another prisoner on the roll. I assure you we won't be going anywhere." Apparently satisfied, Tim strides over and takes a seat on the floor beside Jason—because, of course, his was the nearest cell. "We are both criminals now. There is nothing more you can do to tarnish my reputation than what I have already done myself."

"What the _fuck_ , Tim?! How is this a solution—now we're both locked up!"

"Mm, yes. Together. And conveniently alone." 😏

Not that Tim's about to get up to any hanky-panky when all they have to soften the stone floor is a rather sad straw palette, but being alone does mean they can have a long, serious discussion about each other, their respective identities, their goals, and their relationship in general. It's all quite enlightening once Jason gets past the fact that he's been shtupping a prince of the realm.

"Well, I mean. Technically I'm less a prince of _this_ realm and more _a_ realm—one that no longer really exists," Tim says. "My parents were the rulers of a very small kingdom that got folded into Gotham upon their deaths when there wasn't enough left in the treasury to cover all the accumulated debts. I call the king my father, but in actuality he was my guardian and I his ward until I came of age. I'm less royal and more royal-adjacent at this point."

"You're adjacent enough that the king is incredibly vested in your welfare and virtue," Jason insists, which sets Tim laughing.

"My 'virtue' hasn't been something worthy of concern since long before I ever met you. Just because I live in a palace doesn't mean I'm _dead_."

Eventually things get sorted out—more easily for Jason than for Tim when it comes down to it since there's actually no evidence to link Jason to the Cat's crimes other than what Tim gathered while pretending to be a guard, and his own subterfuge renders all that inadmissible.

"It's not like you can even know that either Jason or the Cat were responsible for the stuff that went missing during the ball," Tim argues when the guard returns with his captain. "Knickknacks like that disappear every time there are a lot of people in the palace." Glancing at Jason, he whispers, "You wouldn't think it, but nobles have notoriously sticky fingers."

"Plus, considering the complete lack of activity over the last several months, half a year, I think it's safe to say the Cat has moved on to another city—if he hasn't left the kingdom entirely."

(Tim makes a mental note to communicate secretly with his close friend the prince of Metropolis and ask him to do a few minor burglary jobs dressed as the Cat just to support the latter theory. >.> )

Anyway. Tim eventually joins the city guard as a detective and moves out of the palace to live with his boyfriend, who has finally finished his apprenticeship and is now a master cobbler. They're very happy together, even if Jason does have to still rescue Tim on occasion when he gets in too deep and really, Jason has a _real_ job, thanks, he can't be doing this all the time, please stop pulling this kind of stupid shit.

THE END.

**Author's Note:**

> [I have a tumblr!](http://themandylion.tumblr.com/) Come visit if you want ridiculous AU headcanons, rants about the English language (and/or educational publishing), history fangirling, adorable baby bats, and veeeeery occasional fanart. Also, because I am an actual human being with opinions of my own, sometimes I post or reblog things that reflect those opinions. If you can't handle the idea of someone existing in the universe and possessing opinions which differ from your own, you should not click that link.


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